It seems frowned upon in F1 circles to admit you're exhausted by the season and ready for a rest. Regardless of the ever increasing length of the calendar, regardless of the quantity of new events added each season, it is the done thing to be seen thumping along like the Duracell bunny.

Well stuff that. I'm proud to hold my hand up and say we worked damn hard this year and now we need a rest.

A long December

The 19 race, neverending story finally drew to a close last weekend, later than any season in recent memory. Next year promises an almighty twenty race calendar (allegedly with standby circuits lined up should any events fall through), so we're taking the chance to unwind while we can.

Traditionally, the F1 off-season sees sidepodcast.com come alive as the destination to cure those winter blues that rear their head when the engines fall silent, but this year we're doing things a little differently and shutting up shop for the entire of December.

There will be a number of guest posts appearing (and you're always encouraged to write more), we also have a final F1 Debrief show to release and a few other posts in the pending tray as and when, but mostly the site will head into hibernation until the new year.

Huge thanks to everyone who listened, read, rang, wrote and inspired us this year. Much like Kimi Räikkönen, we'll be back for another taste of Formula 1 action in 2012.